The Red Hawks are approaching three NJAC games to end their season.
Photo Credit: Patrick Eskay
The Red Hawks are now 1-2 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and will face their biggest challenges in the final three games of the season.
After losing their opening conference game to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), the defending NJAC champions, on April 9, the Red Hawks suffered their second straight conference loss on April 16 to Rowan University 13-10, in a rematch of last year’s NJAC semi-finals.
With the game tied at 1-1 in the eighth minute of play, the Profs would break the game open with five unanswered goals, courtesy of two goals by junior attacker Rachel Hofbauer, a goal by junior midfielder Ali Herbert and back-to-back goals by freshman attacker Jess Havers.
With these points, the Profs took a commanding 6-1 lead. The Red Hawks and Profs would both add four more goals to their totals, and Rowan went into halftime with a commanding 10-5 lead.
The Red Hawks opened up the second half with a quick goal by freshman attacker Jessica Andruela, her second of the game, and the deficit was cut to four. However, Hofbauer scored once more to give the Profs an 11-6 lead.
The Red Hawks would not quit, as they rallied late and gathered three unanswered goals, highlighted by two goals from senior captain and midfielder Kasey Maguire and a goal from sophomore midfielder Chelsea Orban. The Red Hawks cut the deficit to 11-9. Montclair State would add one more goal to their total, courtesy of senior attacker Serena Hitchins.
However, the comeback would fall short, as the Profs would score two more times to hang on for the 13-10 victory in Glasboro.
With the Red Hawks now 0-2 in the NJAC, they found themselves in desperate need of a conference win, and they would do just that on April 19 in Mahwah, with a dominating win over Ramapo College 20-7.
The Red Hawks opened the contest with three unanswered goals courtesy of Maguire, Hitchins and junior attacker Lindsay Lare to take a 3-0 lead.
The Red Hawks would score nine more goals in the first half, and they would never look back, as they took a 12-5 lead into halftime.
The second half was just as dominating as the first half for the Red Hawks offense, as they outscored the Roadrunners 8-2, with goals from Orban, Hitchins, junior attacker Aviana Paraggio, back-to-back goals from junior midfielder Francesca Verrone and two goals from senior captain midfielder Kara Crampton and senior defender Nicole Francis.
The Red Hawks outshot the Roadrunners on net 30-11, and the dominating offense helped them secure their first NJAC victory of the season.
Lare had one of her best games of the season, as she scored four goals, and Hitchins, Crampton and Verrone all scored three goals in the contest.
With three regular season games left, the Red Hawks will look to gain as much momentum as possible heading into the NJAC playoffs.
The Red Hawks will look to get to a 2-2 record in the NJAC as they return home to Sprague Field on April 23 to battle NJAC rival Stockton University at 3 p.m.
